To Rescue Tanelorn (38 page)

“And the bargain?”

“In return for their city, our royal line might in future increase their power with Arioch as their patron. He would give them great knowledge and the means to build a new city elsewhere.”

“And they accepted this bargain without question?”

“There was little choice, kinsman.”

Elric lowered his eyes to regard the dusty floor. “And thus they were corrupted,” he murmured.

“Only I refused to accept the pact. I did not wish to leave this city and I mistrusted Arioch. When all others set off down the river, I remained here—where we are now—and I heard the Lords of the Higher Worlds arrive and I heard them speak, laying down the rules under which Law and Chaos would fight thereafter. When they had gone, I emerged. But Arioch—the Jade Man—was still here. He looked down on me through his crystal eyes and he cursed me. When that was done the crystals fell and landed where you now see them. Arioch’s spirit departed, but his jade image was left behind.”

“And you still retain all memory of what transpired between the Lords of Law and Chaos?”

“That is my doom.”

“Perhaps your fate was less harsh than that which befell those who left,” Elric said quickly. “I am the last inheritor of that particular doom…”

J’osui C’reln Reyr looked puzzled and then he stared into Elric’s eyes and an expression of pity crossed his face. “I had not thought there was a worse fate—but now I believe there might be…”

Elric said urgently, “Ease my soul, at least. I must know what passed between the High Lords in those days. I must understand the nature of my existence—as you, at least, understand yours. Tell me, I beg you!”

J’osui C’reln Reyr frowned and he stared deeply into Elric’s eyes. “Do you not know all my story, then?”

“Is there more?”

“I can only
remember
what passed between the High Lords—but when I try to tell my knowledge aloud or try to write it down, I cannot…”

Elric grasped the man’s shoulder. “You must try! You must try!”

“I know that I cannot.”

Seeing the torture in Elric’s face, Moonglum came up to him. “What is it, Elric?”

Elric’s hands clutched his head. “Our journey has been useless.” Unconsciously he used the old Melnibonéan tongue.

“It need not be,” said J’osui C’reln Reyr. “For me, at least.” He paused. “Tell me, how did you find this city? Was there a map?”

Elric produced the map. “This one.”

“Aye, that is the one. Many centuries ago I put it into a casket which I placed in a small trunk. I launched the trunk into the river, hoping that it would follow my people and they would know what it was.”

“The casket was found in Melniboné, but no-one had bothered to open it,” Elric explained. “That will give you an idea of what happened to the folk who left here…”

The strange man nodded gravely. “And was there still a seal upon the map?”

“There was. I have it.”

“An image of one of the manifestations of Arioch, embedded in a small ruby?”

“Aye. I thought I recognized the image, but I could not place it.”

“The Image in the Gem,” murmured J’osui C’reln Reyr. “As I prayed, it has returned—borne by one of the royal line!”

“What is its significance?”

Moonglum interrupted. “Will this fellow help us to escape, Elric? We are becoming somewhat impatient…”

“Wait,” the albino said. “I will tell you everything later.”

“The Image in the Gem could be the instrument of my release,” said the Creature Doomed to Live. “If he who possesses it is of the royal line, then he can command the Jade Man.”

“But why did you not use it?”

“Because of the curse that was put on me. I had the power to command, but not to summon the demon. It was a joke, I understand, of the High Lords.”

Elric saw bitter sadness in the eyes of J’osui C’reln Reyr. He looked at the white, naked flesh and the white hair and the body that was neither old nor young, at the shaft of the arrow sticking out above the third rib on the left side.

“What must I do?” he asked.

“You must summon Arioch and then you must command him to enter his body again and recover his eyes so that he may see to walk away from R’lin K’ren A’a.”

“And when he walks away?”

“The curse goes with him.”

Elric was thoughtful. If he did summon Arioch—who was plainly reluctant to come—and then commanded him to do something he did not wish to do, he stood the chance of making an enemy of that powerful, if unpredictable entity. Yet they were trapped here by the Olab warriors, with no means of escaping them. If the Jade Man walked, the Olab would almost certainly flee and there would be time to get back to the ship and reach the sea. He explained everything to his companions. Both Moonglum and Avan looked dubious and the remaining Vilmirian crewman looked positively terrified.

“I must do it,” Elric decided, “for the sake of this man. I must call Arioch and lift the doom that is on R’lin K’ren A’a.”

“And bring a greater doom to us!” Duke Avan said, putting his hand automatically upon his sword-hilt. “No. I think we should take our chances with the Olab. Leave this man—he is mad—he raves. Let’s be on our way.”

“Go if you choose,” Elric said. “But I will stay with the Creature Doomed to Live.”

“Then you will stay here for ever. You cannot believe his story!”

“But I do believe it.”

“You must come with us. Your sword will help. Without it, the Olab will certainly destroy us.”

“You saw that Stormbringer has little effect against the Olab.”

“And yet it has some. Do not desert me, Elric!”

“I am not deserting you. I must summon Arioch. That summoning will be to your benefit, if not to mine.”

“I am unconvinced.”

“It was my sorcery you wanted on this venture. Now you shall have my sorcery.”

Avan backed away. He seemed to fear something more than the Olab, more than the Summoning. He seemed to read something in Elric’s face which even Elric did not know.

“We must go outside,” said J’osui C’reln Reyr. “We must stand beneath the Jade Man.”

“And when this is done,” Elric asked suddenly, “how will we leave R’lin K’ren A’a?”

“There is a boat. It has no provisions, but much of the city’s treasure is on it. It lies at the west end of the island.”

“That is some comfort,” Elric said. “And you could not use it yourself?”

“I could not leave.”

“Is that part of the curse?”

“Aye—the curse of my timidity.”

“Timidity has kept you here ten thousand years?”

“Aye…”

They left the chamber and went out into the square. Night had fallen and a huge moon was in the sky. From where Elric stood it seemed to frame the Jade Man’s sightless head like a halo. It was completely silent. Elric took the Image in the Gem from his pouch and held it between the forefinger and thumb of his left hand. With his right he drew Stormbringer. Avan, Moonglum and the Vilmirian crewman fell back.

He stared up at the huge jade legs, the genitals, the torso, the arms, the head, and he raised his sword in both hands and screamed:

“ARIOCH!”

Stormbringer’s voice almost drowned his. It pulsed in his hands; it threatened to leave his grasp altogether as it howled.

“ARIOCH!”

All the watchers saw now was the throbbing, radiant sword, the white face and hands of the albino and his crimson eyes glaring through the blackness.

“ARIOCH!”

And then a voice which was not Arioch’s came to Elric’s ears and it seemed that the sword itself spoke.

“
Elric—Arioch must have blood and souls. Blood and souls, my lord
…”

“No. These are my friends and the Olab cannot be harmed by Stormbringer. Arioch must come without the blood, without the souls.”

“Only those can summon him for certain!” said a voice, more clearly now. It was sardonic and it seemed to come from behind him. He turned, but there was nothing there.

He saw Duke Avan’s nervous face, and as his eyes fixed on the Vilmirian’s countenance, the sword came round and plunged towards the duke.

“No!” cried Elric. “Stop!”

But Stormbringer would not stop until it had plunged deep into Duke Avan’s heart and quenched its thirst. The crewman stood transfixed as he watched his master die.

Duke Avan writhed. “Elric! What treachery do you…?” He screamed. “Ah, no!”

He jerked. “Please…”

He quivered. “My soul…”

He died.

Elric withdrew the sword and cut the crewman down. The action had been without thought.

“Now Arioch has his blood and his souls,” he said coldly. “Let Arioch come!”

Moonglum and the Creature Doomed to Live had retreated, staring at the possessed Elric in horror. The albino’s face was cruel.

“LET ARIOCH COME!”

“I am here, Elric.”

Elric whirled and saw that something stood in the shadow of the statue’s legs—a shadow within a shadow.

“Arioch—thou must return to this manifestation and make it leave R’lin K’ren A’a for ever.”

“I do not choose to, Elric.”

“Then I must command thee, Duke Arioch.”

“Command? Only he who possesses the Image in the Gem may command Arioch—and then only once.”

“I have the Image in the Gem.” Elric held up the tiny object. “See.”

The shadow within a shadow swirled for a moment as if in anger.

“If I obey your command, you will set in motion a chain of events which you might not desire,” Arioch said, speaking suddenly in Low Melnibonéan as if to give extra gravity to his words.

“Then let it be. I command you to enter the Jade Man and pick up its eyes so that it might walk again. Then I command you to leave here and take the curse of the High Ones with you.”

Arioch replied, “When the Jade Man ceases to guard the place where the High Ones meet, then the great struggle of the Upper Worlds begins.”

“I command thee, Arioch. Go into the Jade Man!”

“You are an obstinate creature, Elric.”

“Go!” Elric raised Stormbringer. It seemed to sing in monstrous glee and it seemed at that moment to be more powerful than Arioch himself, more powerful than all the Lords of the Higher Worlds.

The ground shook. Fire suddenly blazed around the form of the great statue. The shadow within a shadow disappeared.

And the Jade Man stooped.

Its great bulk bent over Elric and its hands reached past him and it groped for the two crystals that lay on the ground. Then it found them and took one in each hand, straightening its back.

Elric stumbled towards the far corner of the square where Moonglum and J’osui C’reln Reyr already stood, their bodies crouched in terror.

A fierce light now blazed from the Jade Man’s eyes and the jade lips parted.

“
It is done, Elric!
” said a huge voice.

J’osui C’reln Reyr began to sob.

“Then go, Arioch.”

“I go. The curse is lifted from R’lin K’ren A’a and from J’osui C’reln Reyr—but a greater curse now lies upon your whole plane. I journey now to Pan Tang to answer, at last, the Theocrat’s prayers to me!”

“What is this, Arioch? Explain yourself!” Elric cried.

“Soon you will have your explanation. Farewell!”

The enormous legs of jade moved suddenly and in a single step had cleared the ruins and had begun to crash through the jungle. In a moment the Jade Man had disappeared.

Then the Creature Doomed to Live laughed. It was a strange joy that he voiced. Moonglum blocked his ears.

“And now!” shouted J’osui C’reln Reyr. “Now your blade must take my life. I can die at last!”

Elric passed his hand across his face. He had hardly been aware of the events of the past moments. “No,” he said in a dazed tone. “I cannot…”

And Stormbringer flew from his hand—flew to the body of the Creature Doomed to Live and buried itself in its chest.

And as he died, J’osui C’reln Reyr laughed. He fell to the ground and his lips moved. A whisper came from them. Elric stepped nearer to hear.

“The sword has my knowledge now. My burden has left me.”

The eyes closed.

J’osui C’reln Reyr’s ten-thousand-year life-span had ended.

Weakly, Elric withdrew Stormbringer and sheathed it. He stared down at the body of the Creature Doomed to Live and then he looked up, questioningly, at Moonglum.

The little Eastlander turned away.

The sun began to rise. Grey dawn came. Elric watched the corpse of J’osui C’reln Reyr turn to powder that was stirred by the wind and mixed with the dust of the ruins. He walked back across the square to where Duke Avan’s twisted body lay and he fell to his knees beside it.

“You were warned, Duke Avan Astran of Old Hrolmar, that ill befell those who linked their fortunes with Elric of Melniboné. But you thought otherwise. Now you know.” With a sigh he got to his feet.

Moonglum stood beside him. The sun was now touching the taller parts of the ruins. Moonglum reached out and gripped his friend’s shoulder.

“The Olab have vanished. I think they’ve had their fill of sorcery.”

“Another one has been destroyed by me, Moonglum. Am I forever to be tied to this cursed sword? I must discover a way to rid myself of it or my heavy conscience will bear me down so that I cannot rise at all.”

Moonglum nodded, but was silent.

“I will lay Duke Avan to rest,” Elric said. “You go back to where we left the ship and tell the men that we come.”

Moonglum began to stride across the square towards the east.

Elric tenderly picked up the body of Duke Avan and went towards the opposite side of the square, to the underground room where the Creature Doomed to Live had lived out his life for ten thousand years.

It seemed so unreal to Elric now, but he knew that it had not been a dream, for the Jade Man had gone. His tracks could be seen through the jungle. Whole clumps of trees had been flattened.

He reached the place and descended the stairs and laid Duke Avan down on the bed of dried grasses. Then he took the duke’s dagger and, for want of anything else, dipped it in the duke’s blood and wrote on the wall above the corpse:

This was Duke Avan Astran of Old Hrolmar. He explored the world and brought much knowledge and treasure back to Vilmir, his land. He dreamed and became lost in the dream of another and so died. He enriched the Young Kingdoms—and thus encouraged another dream. He died so that the Creature Doomed to Live might die, as he desired…